Walking Dead Oneshots
by CheshireKitten413
Summary: Will these all be about Carl Grimes? Yeah, probably. There will be unfinished prompts, then some that are a few chapters long, a lot of makeout scenes and sex scenes, and stupid flirty shit. Don't read if you're squeamish/offended by that stuff. Basically all of these will be with my characters since I suck at second-person narrative. Enjoy?
1. Chapter 1, Maybe?

The yellow light from beside the stovetop faded, then glowed bright with another power surge. Alexandria had power, sure, even if it was faulty sometimes. Better than being out where bathing meant you had to find a clean river and the extent of electricity was a battery-powered flashlight. I pulled the teabag out of my mug and wound it around the spoon, letting the liquid trapped in the bag drip into the mug.

Sugar was rationed pretty hard here, too. I mean, it's to be expected. Sugar's one of those things that's stupidly hard to process, especially in America where it's cold. But because I helped Olivia with the supplies, she'd always let me sneak some extra. She knew I had a fondness for overly-sweet stuff, especially tea.

I glanced up at the clock above the oven behind me as I stirred my tea. It was nearing midnight; the only sound from outside were crickets and the occasional frog or owl. I wondered if that was from inside the walls or out. If they were out there, they deserved to be making a racket, if they'd survived this long. I set the spoon down noiselessly on the counter and turned around with my tea.

"...Hi." I said softly, seeing Carl step into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes. He dropped his arm and looked at me with his head tilted.

"Are you okay?"

I took a drink of my tea. It burned my throat, but I swallowed it anyway. I shrugged and ran my free hand through my hair. "Sure. Why do you ask?"

I've been with this group for months now and really the only time I saw Carl without his dad's sheriff hat on was at night, usually when he was asleep. It was pretty hot in the kitchen, but he was still wearing the same flannel overshirt as always.

"Because it's…" His eyes looked outside, trying to gage the time. I jutted my chin towards the clock on the opposite time of the room and he followed, looking a bit embarrassed. It was okay; he wasn't used to being able to know the time again. "It's almost midnight and you're making tea."

"Mhm…" I mumbled into my mug, drinking from it again just to have a way to avoid conversation. I swallowed and nodded. "Well, it seems you're down here too, so… the question is, are _you_ okay?"

Even in his half-awake state, Carl still had a good "don't bullshit me" look. "I heard you. I'm not a very heavy sleeper, you know that."

Yes, I did. I had the tendency to get up at night and roam around outside when we were on the road, and every damn time, _without fail_ , he somehow managed to catch up with me. This was the first time since day one he'd questioned it, though.

"I'm fine, kid." I gave him a half-smile, wrapping my hands around the hot mug. His gaze strayed to my bare arms, but I turned them inward and he knew I noticed.

"We're practically the same age." Carl leaned against the wall, and from the dark circles under his eyes, I knew he hadn't been sleeping either. "I'm not a kid."

"In comparison to some of the people here, both of us are."

"Andy," He definitely learned his warning tone from his dad. I'd heard the same from Rick at least once a day when we were travelling, and now that we're not in as close of quarters, it became more common that I heard it from Carl whenever I'd do stupid shit.

"Listen, Carl, I'm fine. Really am. You can go back to sleep, I'll just…" I trailed off, shrugging, and readjusted my shirt. "I'll just sleep tomorrow night."

"You said you wanted to go over the wall tomorrow," Carl said, staring at me. His cornflower blue eyes were a lot prettier in moonlight. Better than my murky green-brown ones, anyways.

"I can do that without sleep." I promised, tapping my fingernails on my mug. He sighed.

"Don't try to do that again." Here's the warning tone again. "You have a really bad way of looking after yourself, you know that?"

I felt my face flush and gripped my mug tighter. "It was one time, just… just one time."

"It was enough."

"I don't want to talk about this."

"You never do, but maybe we should."

"Why?" I forced my voice not to shake. "So you can make me relive it? I was stupid, it-it was a rash decision, I… shouldn't have talked about it then, I was just… I was running on-"

"No food, sleep, or rest whatsoever. I know. I was there. And I don't… want you to relive that. Ever." Carl wasn't meeting my eyes now. "I'm glad you're trying now, Andy. That's all I was going to say."

Guess I shouldn't tell him about half my tea being vodka, then, huh?

When I didn't respond, he looked up. "Did you even eat today?"

"Yes," I said, lying through my fucking teeth.

"Good. Then now you need to sleep." I stayed quiet, staring into my tea. "It's not much, just a few hours. You don't have to be on your guard anymore."

"Once was all it took." I said softly. "Can we…"

"Andy," It was rare he used my name not in a warning tone. I looked up, only to see him step towards me, pull my mug out of my hands, and set it on the counter. I opened my mouth to question, but as I looked away, he wrapped his arms around me.

"I- what- what are you doing?" I kept my arms at my sides. He let go of me and stepped back.

"Better?"

"N-no… not… really at all, no."

He studied me for a moment. "...Want to go out?"

"Out?" I asked skeptically. This boy was still wearing pajama pants for god's sake.

"Over the wall," Carl shrugged, then grinned. "If I go upstairs I know you're not going to sleep, and I'm pretty awake now."

"And it's all my fault, ain't it?" I said, still a bit shaken but smiling nonetheless. He's such a fucking dork.

"You bet. Now, I'm gonna go change… you do… whatever it is you, uh... usually do."

"Alright kid, go put something on that's not so _revealing_ ," I put my hand over my heart and sighed dramatically, looking away. Carl, with literally no skin showing but his hands, neck, and head, chuckled.

"Sorry, your highness. I'll be back." He stepped out into the hallway and I listened for his footsteps up the stairs before I grabbed my bag from the living room. I slept down here anyways, so none of my stuff was far away. We wouldn't be able to get into the armoury, but you'd be surprised at how good I am at hiding shit. For example, nobody noticed my fire axe stashed underneath the porch.

After rummaging around in the small basket I put most of my stuff in while I was inside Alexandria, I shoved my lighter, pack of cigarettes, Swiss army knife, half-filled box of firecrackers, and water bottle inside my small bag. Then, on second thought, I grabbed a small coinpurse-sized bag and put that in my messenger bag too. Lastly, I picked up my glasses off the coffeetable and put them on. One of my lenses was pretty badly cracked, but I could still see out of them and that's all that mattered.

As I put my boots on, I heard (rather loud) footsteps on the stairs. Carl appeared at the bottom and raised his eyebrow. "Ready?"

I finished lacing my combat boots and nodded. "How long're we gonna be out there?" I asked, joining him by the door.

He pulled open the door and held it for me. I grinned and pretending to curtsey, to which he tipped his hat and smiled back. Carl closed the door softly behind us before speaking. "Not sure. Probably back before sunrise, or my dad will-"

"Lose his shit?" I guessed. Carl looked annoyed at first, until he saw the smirk on my face. He rolled his eyes.

"Sure, you can say that. And Maggie will be pretty worried about you if you're gone, too."

"Ah, yes. Maggie, the only one who cares about me." It was weird, walking through the streets in the middle of the night. We'd only been here a few days and it already felt rather homey. Regardless, it was very dark, quiet, and a little creepy in the dead of night.

"You know I didn't mean it that way." Even though we spoke just above a whisper, our voices were still rather loud. The loudest thing for a few miles, I'd say.

"Woe is me, the unlikable teen." I leaned against him, putting my hand over my heart as I did earlier in an hyperbolic way. Carl pushed my back upward with a shrug.

"Stop," He said in a half-groan.

"Still can't believe you put up with my shit, Grimes." He stopped and gave me a dull look at mention of his last name, then continued walking. We were nearing the wall before he talked again.

"Well, you know. Pretty strained for friends in a world where at least seventy-five percent of the population are dead or brain-eating monsters."

"Or both," I chimed in, then let out a little huff. "Asshole."

"Shut up," He let me go first and spoke a bit louder so I could hear him as I scaled the steel wall. "You know I care about you."  
I swung my leg over the side of the wall, then tilted so far backwards that my back arched. "Yes, but do you _looooove_ me?"

"Andy!" He scolded, having put out his arms to catch me, then looking thoroughly embarrassed. "Just get down so I can follow."

I snickered and climbed over, then dropped down elegantly, landing on both feet. A couple seconds later, Carl joined me, almost breaking his ankle on the way.

"Like a cat, ain't'cha?"

He adjusted his hat to avoid looking me in the eye. "Where to?"

I held out my arms and acted betrayed. "Wait, wait, _you_ told me that _you_ wanted to come out here, and now you're saying you didn't have an idea of where to go?"

"Well… there's a clearing a little bit west of here, but… walkers could be there by now." Carl gestured as he talked. I watched him with a sweet look on my face, and when he glanced at me, he stopped talking, rolled his eyes, and said, "Alright, what's _your_ idea?"

"Now that you mention it…" I held back a laugh at the annoyed look on his face. "Was out here this morning- er, yesterday morning- and found a treehouse about a mile away. Must've been a hangout for some teens, cause I found some other shit there. Pretty useful, actually. Wanna check it out?"

"You're telling me you found something out here and it just slipped your mind to mention it until now?" He stared at me and I giggled.

"No, no, I was gonna show you it when we went out tomorrow, as a surprise and all, sooo… surprise?" Carl just stared more. "Aaaalright let's go check it out."

He nodded. "Lead."

I started off into the sparse trees southwest of Alexandria. We walked in silence for a bit- literal silence, since the owls had stopped and the crickets were fading as we went further outward- until I fell back to walk with Carl. "You know…" He glanced at me as I spoke. "Your footsteps are really loud. You should work on that."

"...I know. Someone told me that already." He didn't sound too amused, so I dropped the subject. A few more minutes of silence, and I felt a tug on the sleeve of my leather jacket. I glanced over and he held out his hand.

"...What?" He rolled his eyes and grabbed my arm, lifting my hand onto his. He knit his fingers with mine and dropped my arm. "... Oh. Sorry. But, uh… why?"

"Comfort thing, I guess." Carl shrugged a little, rather casual about the whole thing. I didn't mind. Holding hands could be platonic.

"Exactly how far away is this place?" He asked after a few more minutes. He had the tendency to move his hand every once in awhile, which I didn't mind. If you've ever held hands with someone you'd know it gets kind of sweaty after a bit and then it's just uncomfortable.

"About a mile. Twenty or so minutes. We're almost there, promise." I'd left small landmarks for this very purpose, things that only I'd recognise, like different herbs at the bases of trees and, at one point, a half-smashed cat skull. I pointed this out to Carl.

He wrinkled his nose. "Gross. What do you think happened to it? I mean, it's just a skull, there's no body or anything."

"Don't know, probably eaten by walkers or something." I stepped over a tree root. The trees were becoming denser, which meant we were hardly five minutes away now. "Ever wonder why in horror movies and books and stuff, there's always skeletons of victims? EIther skeletons or bodies. But I read out of a medical book awhile back that it takes eight to twelve _years_ for a body to decompose completely. And even then, there's still some mushy bits and the bones wouldn't be the pristine white they're always described as."

"...Medical book told you all that?" Carl said with a smile. My face turned pink.

"Shut up, you don't know what I do in my free time."

I glanced over to see Carl wink and I groaned quietly. "Nasty."

A soft moaning from not far away made Carl let go of my hand and pull his knife out of the sheathe. I shook my head, speaking in a whisper. "Relax, kiddo. Another landmark."

I stepped ahead and pushed away some brush, revealing a small clearing. Two full-sized walkers shambled along underneath the large oaks holding up the treehouse, and beside the treehouse, about 15 feet off the ground, a walker was hung. None had noticed us. Carl shot me a look that made me narrow my eyes.

"Shut up. I'll get that one, you do the one by noose boy over there." Carl nodded at this and I gripped my axe tight, stepping back into the underbrush. Carl was less stealthy and just approached his, but still managing to dispatch it quickly. My footsteps, quick and quiet, were unnoticed by the walker, as she was focused on Carl's movement a few yards away. While her back was turned, I swung my axe hard at the side of her head.

The blade made a crunching sound as it sunk into her skull, but she went limp almost instantly. I let her drop to the ground and put my foot on her neck, wrenching my axe out of her head. I heard Carl snickering over the fussy groaning of the hanged walker and shot him a dirty look.

"Got something to say?"

"Never noticed how short you are before." I growled a bit and he held his hands up playfully. He did have over half a foot on me. I was barely 4'11", and he was at least 5'7". I came up to just above his shoulder.

"How old are you, again?" Oh, he was having fun with this. I drew up my shoulders and glared angrily.

"Keep laughin', Grimes, but you'll still be perfect height for me to knee your dick." While his smirk didn't fade, he sure did cross his legs a bit at the thought, which satisfied me.

"No, really, look at this-" He shoved his knife in the sheathe and approached me. Before I could do anything he swept me off my feet, picking me up bridal-style. My axe made a _thunk_ sound as I dropped it in surprise onto the forest floor. He was thinner than I was and he was having no problem whatsoever holding me up.

"Put me down!" I protested, my face turning red. Carl laughed but set me back down on the ground.

"Wait, come here for just a second…" I snatched my axe off the ground and glowered. He beckoned me towards him and I reluctantly obeyed.

"...Wow." He measured with his hand from the top of my head to just above his shoulder. "You… are tiny!"

I smacked him in the side. He made a soft "ow" sound, but stopped teasing me. I huffed. "Now, Grimes, do you want to see the damn treehouse or are you gonna keep making fun of me all night?"

He was still grinning. "Well, it is fun… your face is completely red."

"Shut up!" I snapped, storming off towards the treehouse. Carl followed, having to run to keep up with me.

"Uh… Andy?" He asked after looking at the treehouse, sounding skeptical.

"Mhm?" I tilted my head and stared at him with a sweet smile.

"There's no ladder."

"Correct."

"How do we get up?"

I pointed wordlessly to the large white oak beside the treehouse, its branches so large it overshadowed parts of the treehouse and might have broken parts of the walls. Carl cleared his throat.

"Hope you're as good at climbing as you are at being smug, Grimes."

Before he could respond, I flounced over to the tree and made my way nimbly up the branches. Carl watched wordlessly as I then perched on the small porch before the doorway of the treehouse. I put my chin in my hands. "So will you be joining me?"

"I…" He looked at the tree. I snickered.

"It's not hard. Just don't fall."

"Oh, thanks." Carl said crossly, fitting his foot onto the lowest branch and pulling himself up. It took a couple mishaps for him to get the hang of it, but soon, he managed it and was standing beside me. I stood and stretched.

"Nice of you to show up, Carl." I plucked his hat off him and skipped into the treehouse. It was dark inside, but not so dark I couldn't see. My eyes were already adjusted to the darkness. I fitted his hat onto my head and looked around.

"Didn't think to bring a flashlight, did you?" Carl asked, as something hard and plastic beaned me in the arm. I recoiled as exactly that rolled across the floor. He grinned and turned it on, then set it upright by the doorway so the whole room was adequately illuminated.

"Fuckin' rude, just hand it to me next time…" I rubbed my arm and glared. Carl set his hand on the dilapidated couch-like thing in a corner of the room, then made a _hm_ sound and sat down on it.

"It's dry." He commented. After looking around the mildew-smelling treehouse, I finally sat down next to him. I took off my bag and reached in, rummaging around for a moment. Then I paused, and grinned at Carl.

"Y'know how I said I found something interesting?"

Carl raised his eyebrow. I threw the coinpurse-sized bag at him and he held up his hands to catch. He gave me a curious look, and at my nod, peeked inside. A second later, Carl shot me a new look, one of a sardonic expression.

"Why are you like this," He tossed the bag back at me, ignoring my smug grin. I couldn't help but laugh.

"C'mon, man, not every day we get this opportunity."

"Andy, you already know I don't like you smoking."

I nodded. "Yes, true, but these are cigarettes, they're blunts, so it's different."

"I cannot believe you have an ounce of logic in your brai- fuck it."

"Yeah!" I cheered. "Okay, okay, so this has been here for like a couple years in a plastic bag, so it's gonna probably be pretty strong so this is the time that kindergarten skills come in handy and we share."

Carl rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah… You're the expert."

"I wouldn't say expert, really."

"Yeah, you're right. Drug addict is better."

I smacked his arm while in process of pulling out my lighter. He chuckled. "Just kidding."

"Nah, you're right." I found my lighter and lit up, then took a deep inhale and forced myself not to cough. A year of smoking shitty cigarettes and I'm still bad at it. I passed it to Carl, who was a bit reluctant, but ended up copying me.

"Man, imagine going back and telling ten-year-old you that this is what you're gonna be doing in a few years." I tilted my head back and couldn't help but giggle. "I mean, god… we're two teenagers getting high in a treehouse in the woods in the middle of a fuckin' apocalypse. How shitty can our life _get_?"

It didn't take long to get both of us high, but I decided to stop before our judgement was _too_ fucked up. Just enough to get a buzz, not enough to forget that we can literally die at any moment.

"Is this what it's like all the time?" Carl asked, his fingers weaving through my hair. I was lying across his lap with my eyes closed, just enjoying the calmness of it all.

"Not always. Most of the time. But it's best to do this with another person, then it's like… I don't know. Better."

Carl mumbled a response, then said more clearly, "What're other drugs like?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. Other stuff. Like… LSD."

I snorted. "How would I know? I'm not that bad of a druggie. I prefer pot and painkillers over shit like that. Tried coke once and… god, that was enough."

"There's too many things there to ask questions on."

"Well, try anyway."

Carl groaned and, after about a minute, asked, "How does the painkiller thing work?"

I sighed softly as his fingers stopped petting my hair and were instead gently stroking the side of my face. He was doing that consciously, that I knew, but I kind of enjoyed it. "Not even sure, to be honest. It just… take a few and your pain dulls, right? Well, take a whole fuckton and everything goes away. I went overboard once and… couldn't feel anything. It was scary."

"Scary… huh." He stopped stroking my face and I sat up, then shifted so I was straddling his lap, facing him. His cheeks turned pink momentarily and I smiled, then leaned forward so my forehead touched his. I'd taken his hat off awhile ago and it now sat on top of my bag on the floor.

"...I never noticed you had freckles before." I said softly.

"Well, you've never been this close to my face before."

"Mhm… hold on a second, we'll resume this conversation then."

I tilted my head and pressed my lips to his. Carl's reaction was more mellow than I thought, probably due to the aid of the pot, and I felt his hands rest against my lower back as he pulled me closer. Soon, a soft kiss had turned into a kind of makeout session accidentally. As his hands set on my hips, something my friend told me years ago came to mind:

"Drugs and alcohol don't change a person's mind, it just enables them to do what they've been thinking of before".

Oh, god.


	2. Continuation of Chapter 1

My head buzzed a little bit as I opened my eyes. Instantly, I closed them again, bright yellow light streaming in from between the slats on the treehouse. As soon as the words _tree house_ registered in my mind, my eyes shot open in a panic. It was far past dawn.

"Oh, fuck…" I grumbled, sitting up quickly and rubbing my eyes. Carl lay beside me with nothing but his jeans on, and at that moment, I realized that my ass was extremely cold. This was probably due to the fact _I_ was wearing only my shirt. I searched the room quickly and noticed that our clothes were discarded in a very loose manner, strewn all across the room. I snatched my underwear from the couch and quickly returned them to my body before shaking Carl awake.

He woke with a start, nearly smacking me in the face. However, he went through the realization process much quicker than I, and within a few seconds, gave me a look of utter horror.

"…Andy…" He said in a bit of a questioning tone, forcing himself to a sitting position. I shook my head and thrust his shirt at him. As we both began to dress ourselves again, I couldn't help but wonder if anyone noticed our absence.

"We're fucking screwed…" Carl moaned, covering his face with his hands. I shot him a look of sympathy that he didn't see before saying,

"Look, we, uh… We did something last night, definitely." I didn't want to say it aloud, despite the fact that my memory was pretty clear and I figured his was too. "But now isn't exactly the time to talk about it; we really need to get back."

He didn't argue, only reached under the couch and tossed my other boot at me. I mumbled a thanks and shoved both shoes on, then put on my jacket. I grabbed his hat from its precarious position, balancing on the open windowsill, and settled it on my head. Carl glanced at me and cracked a smile. I winked and shouldered my bag.

"Alright, come on. We'll talk on the way back, if you can talk while running." I made a hasty check in my bag to make sure I wasn't missing anything as I left the treehouse. I pretended to wave at the hanged walker before approaching the huge white oak.

"I'll go first." Carl offered from behind me. I gave him a surprised look and he shrugged a bit. I threw my arms out slightly.

"Go for it, man." I gestured towards the tree, leaning against the outside of the treehouse. Carl flicked the brim of his hat, making me grab onto it to keep it on my head and shoot him a dirty look, then disappeared down through the expanse of branches. Once I heard his feet hit the ground, I made to follow.

My hands found the branches apparently most slippery with morning dew and I had a hell of a time trying to maneuver my way back onto the ground without breaking a limb. About ten feet above the ground, my hand slipped, and as I went to grab for a different branch, I heard a loud _crack_ and felt a deep terror as I began to fall.

Surprisingly, I landed on all fours. The wind was knocked out of me, sure, but I hadn't broken anything. A check of my palms guaranteed a few dirty scrapes, but nothing that couldn't be fixed with Neosporin and bandages. As I got to my feet, I glanced up and saw Carl's face turn red.

"I tried to catch you…" He mumbled, apparently embarrassed. I snorted.

"Don't worry about it. I did that yesterday too, and ended up doing worse than these," I showed him my palms and he winced. I shrugged it off. "Anyway, we really have to get going now or I have a feeling your dad will literally shoot me."

We set off at almost a run, but after about a minute, it was obvious neither of us really cared that much, and we ended up walking instead. We didn't hold hands like yesterday, but I didn't mind. I did get him high and make him stay out all night, so no hard feelings.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked softly, keeping myself alert for any movement around us. A squirrel nearly gave me a heart attack just a few minutes before and I didn't want a repeat of it.

"I… don't know." He sounded embarrassed again and I couldn't help a smile.

"It wasn't my first rodeo, if you know what I mean," I tilted the brim of his hat up to look at him and he rolled his eyes.

"So you've told me… a couple times. But uh…" His face flushed pink momentarily. "It was mine."

"I know." I grinned. "Don't be embarrassed or anything. We've had different experiences, and this is just another one of those experiences. A story to tell later on. But hey, when you've got a hot girlfriend and she wants to know when you first fucked a chick, please leave my name outta it? Thanks."

"Honestly, Andy, this was more than just a story to tell."

Was he flirting with me? I kept my head down enough so he couldn't see my eyes over the hat. "I have a feeling you remember more than I do."

"Vividly."

"…I only remember the first part, I think I either blocked it out, or I passed out."

"Both. Right after we… finished… you just kinda feel asleep instantly."

I giggled. "Wow, you must've exhausted me, then."

"…Shut up." He kicked my heel and I tripped forward, then shot him a look.

"But not enough, hm?" Carl gave me a curious look. I returned it with a mischievous grin before bolting off towards Alexandria. He didn't yell after me, but I heard him on my tail. I tried to weave around trees to give the illusion of trying to throw him off, but I really didn't want to. He didn't know his way back from here; I did.

I glanced behind me to see how close he was, only for me to lose my footing on a tree root and fall, sprawling forward on the ground. My already scraped-up hands were bleeding now, and as I held them out to inspect them, I felt arms wrap around my torso and pull me up.

My first instinct, of course, was to grab my fire axe that I dropped when I fell, but as I scrambled to a regular standing position, I saw Carl staring down at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Clumsy today, huh?" I smacked his arm and he recoiled. Our chase scene had brought us to just outside Alexandria. I looked up at the wall, then back at him.

"Okay, so before you can make fun of me more, I'm just going to…" I turned my back to him and made my way up the supports, disappearing over the wall. My feet hit the ground rather hard on the other side and I had to put my arms out to steady myself. I glanced behind me and saw Sasha, one hand on her hip, the other on her rifle, as she gave me a disappointed glower. At that moment, Carl dropped down beside me.

"Um… hi."

Sasha didn't look amused. "Were you out there all night?"

"Well, not _all_ night, technically, since we didn't leave until midnight, but—" At the look on her face, I decided to cut it short. "Yeah, basically."

Sasha shook her head with a disbelieving expression. She stared at me levelly. "I would expect this from _you_ , but…" Her gaze shifted to Carl, who was beginning to look like he'd rather be just about anywhere else.

"I'm a terrible influence, honestly. Grimes didn't do anything, he just—he saw me going over the wall and went after me." I lied, holding my hand up.

"And that whole endeavor took seven hours?" Oh, shit… We were gone for _seven hours_?

"Exactly." Carl cut in, but I shot him a glare and he shut up.

"Come with me, kids." I was going to protest, but Sasha kinda scared me, as well as the fact that she was holding her rifle still, I reluctantly followed her. I knew exactly where she was heading: baaaack to the house.

I avoided looking back at Carl as we approached the house. Inside, I could see Maggie talking to Rick, and at the sight of Sasha coming up the steps with us in tow, she opened the door. Maggie gave me the regular greeting: "What were you thinking?"

"Sorry, mom." I said with a grin, leaning against the wooden post of the porch. Sasha said something in a low tone to Rick, then pushed past Carl and I, no doubt heading back to the watchtower.

"Don't get smart with me." Man, she really _was_ my mom. Meanwhile, Rick was straight up giving me a cold glare.

"…What? Is it against the law to go outside?" I knew I was crossing the line, but I really didn't care at this point. I have no filter, apparently!

Carl grabbed my sleeve and mumbled, "Andy, just leave it alone…"

I put my hand on my hip and winced as the scratched flesh touched the leather of my jacket, but I didn't react verbally. I was still preparing for the lecture I was going to get.

"You shouldn't have been going over the wall at all. It's there for a reason, and both of you know that." Maggie was still the only one talking; Carl was probably going to get a strict talking-to from his dad later.

"It's not really a ' _both of you'_ situation. We both decided this on our own, but since I'm a bad influence, it was more of my decision and this dumbass followed." Maggie opened her mouth to speak again, but I continued. "Plus, there's really not a punishment you can do. My parents are both dead, and neither of you are stand-ins."

I turned to Carl. "Sorry, honey, but you're screwed."

Then, I walked past both of them and sprinted up the stairs. I headed for the top floor to the unfinished room, then climbed out of the window onto the room. Nobody came after me. I could hear Carl and his dad arguing on the porch and saw Maggie walking in an agitated fashion towards Deanna's. I sighed heavily as I sat down above Carl's bedroom window.

Good morning, society.

By the time Rick left to do… whatever it is he does during the day, it was almost 10. Carl was still inside and I stayed on the roof until early afternoon. I was laying on a nice sun spot, my eyes closed and listening to people in Alexandria talk when a rock hit me hard in the leg.

Scowling, I sat up and rubbed my leg, looking down. Carl was throwing another rock from one hand to another, staring up at me with one eye closed. I groaned and laid back down.

The other rock soon pelted me on the other leg and I decided to hear what he had to say.

"What do you want?" I yelled down at him, sitting dangerously close to the edge. I figured he probably wanted his hat back.

"School!" He yelled back, and I gave him a dull look.

"No."

"Get down here, damnit!" He threw another rock, but this time he undershot it and it went into his bedroom. I snorted and laid back down.

"Andy!"

I flipped him off. I heard a frustrated groan.

"I'll tell Maggie!" He really thought that would make me move? Dumbass.

"Fine! How can I get you down here?"

I grinned and sat up, then looked down at him. Carl threw his hands out in an exasperated expression. I put my middle and pointer finger each on one side of my mouth and flicked my tongue through the opening. Carl groaned.

"Just get down here!"

I rolled my eyes, but made my way back to the hole in the house regardless. I tromped through the house and met him outside, having stashed my fire axe and messenger bag in his room for the time being.

"So? You'll come, then?"

I chuckled. "Oh, no. I just wanted to come down here and enjoy your company."

"Give me my hat back, then," He made a grab for it and I ducked away, sticking my tongue out playfully. Carl made another grab for it and I ducked again.

"Come on, man, we survived years of some weird fuckin' apocalypse and to do what? Go to school? No."

Carl crossed his arms. "Andy, you can't avoid people forever."

"Bullshit." I pointed at him, then set my jaw. "People don't like me, I don't like people. Plus, school's unnecessary at this point and I'd rather not spend that much time i—"

Before I could finish my sentence, Carl grabbed me by my jaw and kissed me. I shoved him away quickly. He looked smug. "Comin' now?"

"Carl! Don't… do that here." I scolded, a little lost for words as my cheeks flared red.

"Sorry." From the look on his face, I could tell he was not sorry at all. I scowled.

"You know what, fuck you. I'll go with you, but if you make me do any—" I pretended to shudder as I said the word, "— _schoolwork_ , then I am out of there and I will hate you forever."

"Fine," He shrugged casually, still grinning. "We don't usually get much done anyways, considering there isn't more than like an hour each day, and it gets put off a lot."

I groaned halfheartedly and began to wander after him as he set off towards… actually, I had no clue where the schoolbuilding was, or if it was even a… it doesn't matter.

It didn't take very long to get there, and soon, I was sitting at an old plastic table next to Carl as one of Alexandria's adults (I didn't recognise her, but she looked to be in her early 40's, a bit of a white suburban soccer mom type) pointed to whatever she had written on the beat-up chalkboard nailed haphazardly into the concrete of a dim garage. Even with the sunlight filtering in through the windows above the garage door, it was still pretty dark and kind of stuffy. I put my chin in my hand and zoned out, staring at a girl a few feet away.

She was really cute. She didn't look too interested in the shitty lecture either (I think it was about plants/agriculture), and instead was staring at the knife in her hands, concealed behind the chair of the kid in front of her so the teacher couldn't see her. Next to her, a boy with a denim jacket and what looked like resting bitch face caught notice and tapped her arm, mumbling something to her before turning his attention back to Linda there at the front of the room. She rolled her eyes partially, gave a dirty look to the wall, and slipped it into her boot.

I glanced over at Carl. He had a composition notebook in front of him, but nothing was written in it. I picked up his pencil and pulled the notebook a bit closer to me to scrawl (in my admittedly terrible handwriting), "Who's that?".

I pushed the notebook back to Carl and touched his hand to get his attention. He looked at me, then down at the paper. After scanning it, he scanned the room before mouthing, "Who?"

I pointed to the girl. Then, after no response, picked up the pencil again.

"Brown hair, doe eyes, kind of a pout. Was messing with a knife before Denim Boy made her stop. Looks kind of bored."

Carl read it, then took my offer of his pencil back and wrote his response. Granted, his handwriting wasn't good either, but it was definitely worse than mine. I could still read it for the most part, though. "That's Enid, and the one next to her is Ron."

As I went to grab the pencil to reply, I watched Carl re-read what I'd written, then whisper, " _Denim Boy?_ "

I grinned and nodded, scribbling, "So when do we get to blow this pop-stand?"

Underneath that, I doodled a little cat creature slumped over on her paws at a ice-cream stand, writing, "2 hot, 2 incredibly hot" over her head. While I watched Ron and Enid, Carl wrote his response and tapped the notebook with the pencil eraser to tear my attention away from them. I glanced down and read,

"It's not that bad, and it's done at 2:30." He had added onto my drawing, an extremely crude… dog?... thing with a speech bubble saying, "Can I order a haagen dogs icecream?"

I smiled at his dorky attempt and sketched out the same cat, but bigger with her middle finger up and a sly expression. "No we don't serve your kind".

He read it and let out a soft, almost inaudible scoff. "Rude."

I glanced up and checked the clock above the teacher. Holy shit… 2:28. Time flies when you pay no attention to school whatsoever. Regardless, Linda seemed to notice and said, "Alright, we'll continue this tomorrow."

I let out a groan that was drowned amid the shuffling of the maybe half-dozen other kids in the room. Carl grabbed my arm as I put my face down on the table and forced me to stand. I shot him a look of disgust.

"Come on, I'm going to introduce you to a few people," Then, in a softer tone, "Act like you know how to talk to people, okay?"

"Just this once," I promised with a smirk. He led me over to where Ron, Enid, and a kid with black hair were talking. Enid looked a bit out of the conversation and stared at us as we approached.

"Hey guys," Carl greeted them casually, as I searched for a way to exit without being noticed. However, Enid had made eye contact with me, and once somebody _knows_ you're there, there's really no point. "This is Andy, she's my –she's my best friend."

"…Hi," I said awkwardly, nodding a bit.

Ron seemed to be the gangleader and introduced each of them in turn, to which Mikey (who names their kid that?) and Enid said a hello after their names were said. I gave a polite wave once they were done.

"So… nice knife." I commented to Enid, once Ron and Carl had started talking. We kind of broke off from their group and stood a bit away.

She nodded. She was rather quiet, which was a relief, meaning I wouldn't have to try hard to be funny. "Thanks. It was my mom's."

"I'm guessing your mom is gone too." Damnit, had to bring up the tough subject first? To my relief, she nodded again. "Sorry about that."

"It's okay." She finally met my eyes. "Where are your parents?"

I shrugged. "Never knew them. My aunt raised me, and as far as I know, she's still in a loading dock in Hartsfield-Jackson. I was with my best friend when this all went down."

Enid's gaze strayed to Carl and I shook my head. "Not him. Someone else. I didn't meet him for… a few years after."

"Sorry about your aunt." She didn't have much emotion behind her words, but it was okay. I made a wishy-washy expression with my hand.

"It's alright, she… wasn't the best parent. Good person, bad at raising kids." I chuckled to lighten the mood, but Enid still hadn't smiled yet. "So, what's your deal? If your parents are gone, where are you staying?"

She gestured loosely to Ron. "With his family, sort of. I don't spend much time –I'm out… a lot,"

"Over the wall?" I guessed. Enid looked a little uncomfortable, but made an affirmative sound nonetheless. "'S alright, I don't like being surrounded by this many people either."

"You too?" She looked hopeful for a brief second, before the expression was wiped from her face and she merely offered a shrug. "This place… just doesn't feel right."

"Exactly," I furrowed my brow and glanced over my shoulder at the chalkboard. "I mean, we're in a post-apocalyptic society, and the focus now is… on school? Shouldn't we be learning shit—er, _stuff_ we need to know to survive?"

"That's why I don't come," She said, contradicting the fact that she was there now. Enid realized what she said and glanced over at Ron again. "He wants it to be normal. Hasn't seen what we have. Sometimes I think he wants _me_ to be normal, too."

"So you two are…?" I linked two of my fingers and lifted my eyebrows. She opened her mouth, then paused.

"Yes?" It sounded like a question, but I didn't press. None of my business anyway.

"Know that feeling," Right as I said it, I felt Carl touch my arm.

"I need to go check on Judith. You coming?"

I glanced back at Enid momentarily. "Hey—seven pm, east, alright?"

A slight look of confusion crossed her face, but then she nodded. "Okay."

On the walk back, Carl gave me a sideways look. "What was that about?"

I returned his look levelly. "Excuse me?"

"Er… nevermind." Then, under his breath, "Girls are confusing…"


End file.
